Politics and History

Venezuela: Politics and History
By Rowena Slope

Venezuela is situated in South America next to Colombia, Brazil and Guyana and was originally inhabited by Carib, Arawak and Chibcha peoples who farmed and hunted along the coast, the Andean mountain range and the Orinoco River. The first permanent Spanish settlement was established in 1522 and Venezuela became a Spanish colony until independence in 1811 as part of Gran Colombia, from which it later seceded.

Venezuela was governed by a series of military dictatorships until 1958 when Romulo Betancourt won the first democratic presidential election. The 1970s oil crisis brought windfall profits to Venezuela’s oil industry but created further social tensions due to unequal wealth distribution. Unrest grew during the 1980s, when oil prices fell and social programmes were cut, and resulted in an historic agreement between government, business and trades unions.

Further economic problems were exacerbated by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan and drastic austerity programme that led to riots, a general strike, martial law and many fatalities. Carlos Andres Perez was elected president in 1989 and survived two military coups in 1992, before being ousted and imprisoned seven years later for embezzlement and corruption.

In 1998 Hugo Chavez, who lead the first coup against Perez, was elected and introduced a new constitution. Hugo Chavez was re-elected in 2000 for a further six years, on a radical reform mandate covering the land and oil industries known as the Bolivarian revolution after the independence hero Simon Bolivar. Reforms in the oil industry prompted a national strike and management lockout in 2002 which led to a 48 hour military coup. A popular uprising followed and a referendum held in August 2004 returned a victory for Chavez and his reform programme.